Promise on His Life (Genesis 15)

 Promise on His Life

Abram wanted surety of God’s promises. God had promised him he would inherit the land on which he was walking.

[Gen 15:8 NKJV] 8 And he said, "Lord GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?"[Gen 15:8 NKJV] 8 And he said, "Lord GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?"

God decided to make a covenant with him and to explain things so that it would be easier for Abram to grasp the promise by faith.

He explained:

[Gen 15:12-16 NKJV] 12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror [and] great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then He said to Abram: "Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land [that is] not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. 14 "And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 "Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. 16 "But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites [is] not yet complete."

But He didn’t just keep it at an explanation which will often help us to grasp the promises by faith more.

He also gave a visible sign of making a covenant, an agreement with Abram.

[Gen 15:9-11, 17-21 NKJV] 9 So He said to him, "Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon." 10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. 11 And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. ... 17 And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. 18 On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: "To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates-- 19 "the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, 20 "the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 "the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."

He made a covenant with Abram. God is a covenantal God. He takes His promises and agreements very seriously and He gives humanity a way to understand how He treats them through covenants.

But in this case He used a special way of making a covenant that was prevalent in that time, but which must have made an impression coming from God Himself.

A heifer, goat, ram, turtledove and pigeon were cut in half and the parties that made the covenant would usually walk through these halves. In this way they made an agreement that if one of the parties broke the covenant, they would have to pay with their lives just like the animals had lost their lives.

But on this occasion God alone went through these pieces in His glory with great smoking and darkness.

He was a great and mighty God. He could require anything from His own creation.

But instead He made a covenant that He Himself alone would fulfill and promised to do. And with these signs He was basically putting His own eternal life on the scale.

His own life would be taken away if He would break His promise. And this was Him saying this as the eternal life-giver Himself.

What assurance this must have given Abram, to see this from the Almighty Himself and not just any human.

God has not changed. He still takes His covenants and agreements and promises very seriously. And the new covenant promise of forgiveness and of Him writing the law in our hearts is a universal promise applied to those who believe.

In that case He really did pay with His own life. That is how seriously He took His covenant.

God is trustworthy. He puts His own life into this agreement.

Why would we not trust Him?